What is Web 2.0?

and what can it offer educators?

Christopher Franks, M.Ed. High School of Commerce Springfield, MA

Image used with permission of www.lumaxart.com

Web 2.0 For lack of a definition

As a term it was first used by Darcy DiNucci in her 1999 article "Fragmented Future It was then popularized by Timothy OReilly in 2004 with the first Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco Now it refers to the ever changing state of the Web we use daily

Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0

1.0
Web sites functioned as a static outlet for information and products Required technical knowledge (HTML) Content was posted by programmers to be viewed by users

2.0
Web sites function as applications, or programs, that can be updated from any computer Sites have built-in editing functions (WYSIWYG) Users contribute to the content of sites

What does that mean for us?

2.0 is a shift from us just using Web sites for accessing information to our participating in the contents creation Sites begin offering services and tools that can be accessed from any computer connected to the Web Most importantly, Web 2.0 is: User-centered User-generated User-controled

Your first tool to help get you started with Web 2.0

What is Social Bookmarking?

Using services like delicious.com we can:
Save links to Web sites, like browser based favorites or bookmarks Organize links by adding descriptions and tags (keywords or classification) Share those links with others Access and manage our bookmarks from any computer with access to the Web

Getting started
From delicious.com click on the Join Now button

Delicious.com is a service maintained by Yahoo.com To create an account you need to Sign Up for a Yahoo account

Creating your account

Complete the form to create your account Delicious will suggest an account title / URL based on the name and Yahoo ID / E-mail you enter

Or you can enter your new account title

Adding tools to your browser

After selecting your account name, you can add a buttons to your browser that will allow you to add bookmarks and access your account If you do not want to add buttons you may Skip this Step

Adding bookmarks
Enter the URL for the site you would like to bookmark

Delicious will add the pages TITLE You can enter a NOTE or description Add TAGS manually or choose from the Recommended and Popular tags

Your bookmark page

Unique URL
Link for creating bookmarks Bookmarks listed chronologically with descriptions and specific tags List of Tags for sorting

A link to others who have also bookmarked this site

Another tool to help you get started with Web 2.0

What is Web Annotation?

Using a service like WebNotes.net we can:
Add and modify the content of a Web page
Highlighting text Adding sticky notes

Keep our annotated pages organized for future reference Share those annotations with others by e-mail, permanent URL, and Twitter

Getting started

From WebNotes.net click on the Sign Up button

Creating your account

Choose your Price Plan Complete the form to create your account

An e-mail will be sent to the address you provide with a link to confirm your account

Adding tools to your browser

After clicking the link in the e-mail to confirm your account you will be brought to a page where you can install the WebNotes Toolbar or Bookmarklet to your Web browser Both require you to have Adobe Flash

Annotating a page
Select You The can Toolbar the also Sticky with Note tool Share annotation Highlighter your to tools tool place annotated and then viewing a note select pages on by E-mail, options the text page, you after the note Permalink, would like appears to and you may change Twitter highlight its size, move it around the page and add text

My WebNotes and the Organizer

You can view the individual annotations for each page

You can create folders to help keep your sites and annotations organized

Where does this leave us?

Remember Web 2.0 is:
User-centered User-generated User-controled

2.0 tools like Delicious and WebNotes are practical applications and engaging

Works consulted
Gooding, J. Web 2.0: a vehicle for transforming education. (Report). International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education 4.2 (April-June 2008): 44(10). Educators Reference Complete. Gale. High School of Commerce. 23 Aug. 2009 http://find.galegroup.com/itxstart.do?proId=PROF. Prabhu, M. T. (2009, June 3). WebNotes allows users to annotate web pages. Retrieved August 24, 2009, from eSchoolnews.com website: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=59027 Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press